BISMARCK, ND – In his State of the Union address this evening, President Obama described his primary mission as a commitment to keeping the American dream alive, calling all Americans to a “common understanding of shared responsibility” in order to ensure that.

But once again, his rhetoric falls far short of delivering real solutions to real problems. While invoking the words of Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s first Republican President, that the government should only do for people what they cannot do for themselves, Barack Obama proceeded to outline just the opposite. Promising to push Congress for more power in the executive branch, he proposed more and more government agencies, programs and spending: a “trade enforcement” unit, a consumer watchdog unit, a federal financial crimes unit, more spending on education, more subsidies for “clean energy” investments, increased “smart” regulations on the oil and gas industry, and higher taxes on millionaires.

Our President just doesn’t get it.

And while he tried to take credit for our increases in oil and gas production, the fact remains that his policies have been choking at these industries and trying to hold them back. He denied permitting for the Keystone XL project while continuing to pour more than a billion dollars “investment” into failed solar energy plants. And now he wants to appropriate federal lands for building a new “Clean Energy Center,” possibly bypassing Congress in the process?

Obama talked about wanting to give more money to students, but by taking the private banking industry out of federal student loans, rates have only gone up. He wants to give government money to homeowners wanting to refinance and blames the banking industry for every bad loan, but neglects to mention that it was the liberals’ policies that forced banks into granting those loans in the first place.

One example after another, his proposals presented only more government, more spending, and more intrusion into the lives and businesses of private citizens.

But that doesn’t work, and it never will. Government expansion and intervention will never succeed in ensuring “fairness” and a level playing field, nor should it. What makes the American Dream work is the willingness of individuals to take responsibility for themselves, to develop their talents, gifts and abilities and to find creative and productive ways to employ those resources.

If we really want to secure the American dream for our children, we do need to harken back to Abe Lincoln’s advice, not just in a campaign speech, but with the solid principles and policies of cutting spending, limiting government, and returning true freedom back to the American people: freedom to live, freedom to work, and freedom to decide for themselves.